Jazz happenings – July 2018 edition by Jim Woodford

Birthday Anniversary for Jazz Central – 44 years of jazz!
Sunday July 8, 2018, come on down & join the party:

      Jazz happenings in the Dayton area (and beyond) has recently included The Dayton Jazz Festival (held at Riverfest on 6-10-18) and the Miami Valley Jazz Camp (held at Kettering high school again this year). But first let me mention the Jazz Festival after party at Jazz Central. Once again we had a plethora of jazz jammers. I am not going to do a rundown of participants, of which there were 18 at one point but I will mention that jazz guitarist Mike Fageros was there – down from Toledo after flying in from Houston Texas, Mike Teckenbrock – playing trumpet this night rather than his usual flugelhorn and a former Jazz Central regular, Larry Smith – who has switched from alto sax to tenor sax. It had been at least a year since Larry had graced the stage. I always say that you never know what you are going to get at the Jazz Central Jazz Jam on Sunday nights but it is always interesting. One final comment, Mike Fageros has what I call the surprise recording of the decade - set for release in July (2018) – Lincoln Berry on the B3 Organ in a live performance in Texas! I cannot tell you how excited I am about this recording – Lincoln was a B3 jazz music icon in the Dayton area for close to 40 years but he just never got that much laid down on recordings. I have a pre-CD release copy which I have been playing on my radio show – the excitement builds!

    This past month I traveled down to Washington Platform in Cincinnati, a place I do not get to as often as I would like. I heard the Jim Connerly Trio with John Zappa on trumpet, Bill Jackson on bass & Jason Smart on drums. Jim was playing electronic keyboard. Over the years I have particularly enjoyed Jim Connerly’s playing – first heard him at the former Pachia’s Jazz Room in the Oregon District. Unfortunately for jazz lovers, not much jazz going on in the Oregon District these days. I caught the first set and the Platform’s usual great chowder. Zappa really showed his chops on Freddie Hubbard’s Straight Life. The drummer’s rhythms helped make this song particularly interesting. Overall though, the combo clicked on all cylinders for a killer version of Joe Henderson’s Mamacita! [Joe Henderson, a.k.a. Saxophone Joe, is generally referred to as being from the Dayton area but in fact he was from Lima]

      The Miami Valley Jazz Camp provided its usual amount of public entertainment, the camp counselor’s performance at midweek on Wednesday and the camps final camp attendee’s performance on Friday. The camp counselor performance this year was introduced by two student big bands, Cordonnier and Bradley – they got the crowed going. The headliners this year were a camp counselor version of The Dayton Jazz Orchestra, camp sponsors this year. I do not intend to provide a blow by blow account of all 7 tunes but trumpeter Scott Belck kicked things off with I’m Getting Sentimental Over You, reaching some high notes that only dogs could hear. Hal Melia played Ellington’s Jeep Blues (1956 Newport Jazz Festival) and Closing out the set was special guest Rob Parton along with Scott Belck once again with a rousing rendition of Maynard & Waynard. [Maynard Ferfuson and Wayne Bergeron] Honestly, you could pay any amount of money to see a big jazz act such as Wynton Marsalis and not hear anything better than that final trumpet duet. [full disclosure, I HAVE paid to see Wynton Marsalis-TWICE]      The Friday “end of camp” concert is always fun too. I could not attend the 12:30 performances but was able to catch the big band portion that took place at 7:00 p.m. Friday evening – fighting the Fraze Pavilion parking overflow was a challenge but managed to get inside before the first big band combo completed their set. (although I missed the drum set event) Bands that played were New Lumber under the direction of Sammy K & Jim Leslie, Honey I Shrunk the big Band! directed by Bill Burns, The Second Line & Dwayne directed by Ryan Hamilton, DocScott & the Lone Big Bone directed by Dr. Scott Belck and Bradley directed by Eric Lechliter. The highlight of the camp is always the all band camp performance, including instructors, as the final song of the evening – this year it was Perdido – I did a quick count and ended up with about 60 students plus counselors. I am pretty sure that the final note raised the rafters!

      Can’t do this write up without a mention of Ron Gable’s birthday celebration at the Minton Athletic Club.  Mr. Jazz Advocate writes a travel log and has extensive internet presence so I don’t really need to recreate the wheel. Suffice it to say that “King” Koeller was the M.C. – playing electric bass instead of tenor sax. Jason Swann swung his tenor sax with Ayn on vocals, Jeff on keyboards & Todd on drums. Mike Teckenbrock showed up to help Ron celebrate his birthday and brought his golden flugelhorn. Hal Harris and his son also helped celebrate, Hal on trombone and Steve on drums. Jan Og dropped by to lay down some tasty brush licks on drums as well. And there were lots of dancers. Those folks at the Minton Athletic Club seem to love to dance. The Dean of Dayton radio, Clay “the Cooker” Collins was also in attendance accompanied by his talented wife, “Lady D” who sang a song for Ron. A good time was had by all, but especially Ron Gable.

      I was also fortunate enough to have the time to get over to Spinoza’s at the Mall at Fairfield Commons to catch Brian Cashwell on piano, Chris Berg on bass and John Taylor on drums. These guys are amazing every time I hear them. They play so well together and that is because they make the musical communication look effortless. If you weren’t there, you missed quite a treat.
Then last but not least, finally got over to The Paragon, for what might have been the last performance at that venue of the musical combo consisting of Jason Swann on saxophone, Trey Stone on piano and Ben Cooper on bass. It was a lovely evening of drinks and dinner and the combo was crowd pleasing. [however; don’t expect to sit at the bar and get anything to eat – my recommendation is eat at 6:00, then sit at the bar and enjoy the combo up close and personal – p.s. my granddaughter had a Shirley Temple just in case you were wondering]. The combo is hopeful that a change in entertainment management still allows them to continue playing every Friday night through July and August beginning at 6:30.

      Now some local jazz regular happenings:The Jazz Central Jazz Jam is still going strong every Sunday night at 8:00 p.m. (until around 11:30) and Ismail Muhammad is bringing in occasional jazz combos on Thursday nights.      For the longest running gig in the Dayton area, Jim Smith, jazz guitar player/teacher/master and Vinnie Marshal on bass are at the Tipp City restaurant called the Coldwater Café. Both excellent musicians and all musicians know that a paying gig is a very good thing. They do this every Friday and Saturday night from 7:00-9:30 and as an added bonus, Coldwater has been named one of the best 10 restaurants in Dayton!      Other venues for which you need to be aware:Dave Greer and the Classic Jazz Stompers at Jimmy’s Ladder 11 on the first Tuesday of the month [7:00-10:00] - Jazz at Spinoza’s out by the mall at Fairfield Commons – check out the web site for times. - Top of the Crown [a.k.a. View 162] has music at times peppered with jazz on the weekends. - Washington Platform in cincy, jazz combos on Friday and Saturday nights. - The Blue Wisp Big Band at Urban Artifact in cincy every Wednesday night. - The Dayton Jazz Orchestra at The Phone Booth Lounge (formerly Dog’s Breath Tavern) in Kettering every third Sunday of the Month beginning at 7:00 p.m.